Traveling crane



(No Model.)

W WOOD I TRAVBLING GRANE.

No. 488,158. Patented July 29, 1890.

INVENTOR W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VALTER VVOOD, OF .PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAVELING CRANE.

SPECIFIATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,158, dated July 29, 1890 Application filed March 27, 1890. Eerial No.345,613, (-No model.)

T0 all wlwm it may conccrn:

Be it known that I, WALTER VVooD, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Traveling Cranes, whereof the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

For oonvenience of description the three essential movements of a travelin g crane may beclassified as follows: First, the bridge movement or travel of the crane as a whole along its ways; second, the trolley movement, or the travel of the trolley along the bridge, and, third, the lifting movement, whereby the fallblocl: or other device suspended beneath the trolley and carrying the weight may be raised or lowered.

My present invention relates only to the production of the first and third of these movements-viz., the travel of the bridge and the raising or lowering of the fall-block; and it consists in the combination of a rope with the bridge, the trolley, and the fall-block in such a manner that the same rope is capable of producing either the bridge movement or the lifting movement from a point independent of the structure.

In the accompanying drawing, the figure represents a partial view in perspective of the bridge and its adjuncts, the position of the ways being merely indicated, and the trolley shifting devices, which may be of any desired character, being omitted.

The bridge O travels by means of its rollers D upon the longitudinal ways A, and is provided with the trolley B. Near one end of the line of ways, which for purposes of description I will call the initial en( are the actnating devices, consisting, in the instance shown, of a pair of hydraulic cylinders E E', having plungers F F', respcctively, the pressure being applied from any convenient source. From one of these plungers F the actuatiugrope G leads over a guiding and supporting pulley II, arranged near the initial end of the line, to a guiding-pulley II', arranged at one end of the bridge O. After passing around said pulley ll' the rope leads over a pulley a', near one end of the trolley, and thence descends in a bight to the sheave I of the fallblock, through which it passes and rises over a pnlley a at the opposite end of the trolley to and around the pulley 1-12, mounted upon the bridge near the end opposite to that at which the rope cnters. At this point the rope G'- may leave the bridge and pass to pulleys H3 Ht, arranged at the distant end of the line, thence returning over a pulley 1-15 at the inital end of the line to the second plunger F' of the cylinder E', or to a fixed point of attachment. One or both of the pulleys H' H2 upon the bridge are provided with brakes, these being indicated in the present instance at L' L2, respectively, and said brakes maybe Controlled by means of cords Z' 12, respectively, or in any convenient manner.

The operation of the device is as follows: So long as the brakes Il' L2 are inactive the actuation of the plungers F F' in the same direction, or the actuation of one while the other remains stationary, will haul in or pay out the rope G, according to the direction of the movement of the plunger, and the fallblock will be correspondingly raised or lowered, the position of the bridge of course remaining unchanged. If, however, the brakes L' L2, or either thereof, be applied so as to check the movement of the rope at the points of its connection with the bridge, all that portion of the rope which is intermediate between said points of connection becomes temporarily inactive, and when one plunger F is moved in one direction and the other plunger F' in the opposite direction the bridge will be caused to travel bodily in one direction or the other, in correspondence with the movements of the plungers. During this bridge movement the Vertical position of the fall-block will of course remain unchanged.

I contem plate employin g in connection with the above any desired form of trolley-shifting devices, but do not deem it necessary to describe the same in the present specification, as my invention has no reference to the particular device which may be used for Shiftin g the trolley. It is obvious, however, that the inotion of the trolley will have no effect upon the Vertical position of the fall-block, whether the brakes L' I? be active or inactive.

In the foregoing description I have specified a single rope as the simplest type for illustrating the invention; but obviously said rope could be duplicated on the opposite side of the structure without affecting the principle of the invention. Such duplicate rope would be, of course, actuated in the same manner as the first rope,,and one purpose of its duplication Would be to equalize the strain at both ends of the bridge and thus in some degree faeilitate the bridge moveinent. Furthermore, instead of leavin g the bridge at the opposite end to that at which the rope enters, said rope might return along the bridge and thence be carried to the pulley at the distant end of the line. I do not deem it necessary todescribe in detail all these Variations, as they in no way affect the underlying principles of my inVent-ion; nor do I in this applieation clairn any other feature of the device than those which relate to the production of the bridge movement and lifting movement by means of a single, or theoretically single7 rope, actuated from a point independent of the structure.

Having thus described my invention, I olaim* In a traveling crane, the combination of longit-udinal ways, abridge adapted to travel thereon, a trolley adapted to travel along said bridge, a fall -block suspended from said trolley, actuating mechanism, arope leading from said actuating mechanisin to the initial end of the line, thence to the end of the bridge,

thenceto one end of the trolley, thence directly by way of the bridge) to the distant end of the line, and thence returning to the initial end and to actuating mechanism, pulleys for said rope arranged at the respective ends of the bridge, and brake mechanism at one or more of the bridge'pulleys, substantially as' 40 set forth.

WALTER VOOD.

Witnesses:

THOMAS S. J'UsTUs, J AMEs H. BELL. 

